When do you sort/cull your cast boolits?

[JBinMN]

I was thinking about the "culling" ( sorting good from bad) I am about to do with the approx. 1500+ boolits I cast this afternoon & it occurred to me to ask here just when folks cull out the "unacceptable" boolits from the good ones.

I generally do it before I store them, or just before I lube them to use them if just a small amount. But, I was thinking that some folks might not care to sort at all if they are just plinking, and others might wait & do it as the are lubing, among other choices, while even might be others who do it as they cast. And so on...

So, I decided to make a Poll topic to see what other folks do, just out of curiousity & for the heck of it.

What is the time you choose to cull/sort your cast boolits, if ya do sort them at all?

ETA: I forgot to put "paper patch" in, when I put the question #3 in the poll about taking them out of storage before using them"

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

[country gent]

I "sort" several times on my bullets. I shoot as cast and pan lube for bpcr rifles and shillouette. On these bullets 4-5 grns is 1% so that's not hard to manage in reality. I normally am within .5-.7 grns over a run. I may cast 400-500 bullets in a session using 2 moulds. I sort and store in pistol ammo boxes. I sort this tie for caliber and blemishes boxing as I go. Then when putting in the lube cake I again watch for blemishes and defects. When I cut them out of the lube I look for voids in the lube and such. Last is when I am loading and wiping the bases to hand seat. I seldom weigh bullets unless its a new mould, a proven mould I run and shoot the bullets in batches as cast.

[Big Boomer]

Catch the really bad ones before water dropping them ... like those not filled out properly, etc., dump them with the sprues and run them through the pot again. The next time I go over them is when I'm lubing with a Star luber. Big Boomer

[DerekP Houston]

Obvious defects I cull as I cast, then I'll give them another once over as I'm coating them with hitek/pc. I can eliminate 90% before I get to sizing and then its just a few I grab out.

[lightman]

I don't really inspect my bullets. I cull any obvious rejects when they fall out of the mold. This seems to catch most of them. I cull any rejects when I size and lube them. This catches a few more. Then I cull any obvious rejects when I load them. By now, I find very few rejects. The ones that I have weighed are about the same tolerance as Sierra's match bullets are.

[Dusty Bannister]

While casting, if I see some obvious defects I pull them aside to return to the pot. Then when lube sizing I remove any that have visible defects. Sometimes a few slip by and are discarded when loading them into cases. I can not say that I ever am "done" inspecting my bullets.

[osteodoc08]

I cull out obvious ones as I cast. I then give them a once over after they've cooled and I put them in a jar or bucket. I'll also cull as I look them over before they're sized and lubed. Then there are those that are culled after a size and lube. Rarely do I cull before loading but they get looked over again. So it's an ongoing process but most are culled in step one and two that I described. During casting and after they've cooled prior to storage.

[bbogue1]

I inspect the bases as I am casting then after my mold gets too hot and I'm letting it cool I cull into a metal pan, that's when the defects go into the pot as well as the sprue and any lead sculptures my pot decides to make go back into the pot. When the bullets are cool I gather them into a plastic container inspecting as I go. Next comes lubing or powder coating at another time, inspected before and again after. Next is sizing, another inspection as is my final step which is loading. All culls are tossed into my pot. By that time I can load with confidence. Sometimes I am surprised at how many bullets are waiting to be remelted just laying there in my cold pot.

[Hannibal]

I suppose it depends on what you plan to do with them. I know a fellow who shoots pistols all the time who's culling criteria seems way too lax to me, but he can outshoot me with a pistol any ol' day, so what do I know. (?)

On the other hand, if you plan to shoot cast bullets in a rifle to jacketed velocities, things have to be near perfect if you expect to achieve excellent accuracy at significant distance. There are many threads on this on the forum, and some are the epitome of a 'can 'o worms', so I'll not say more on that subject.

Bottom line is, is you are shooting for accuracy, I don't think there is such a thing as 'too picky'. But that's just MY opinion.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Actually I do sorting when just bringing the mold up to running temp. The other time I sort is as I run the boolets thru the luber.Robert

[Retumbo]

I do a visual after the bullets have cooled. I do a weight check before I load

[dragon813gt]

They're inspected multiple times. First is as they're coming out of the mold. Usually all from that pour will be rejected and this happens when the mold is warming up. Second is as they're sitting in the pan and I just refilled the pot. Gives me something to do while waiting for the lead to melt. Third is when I'm done casting that batch. I go through every one again. At this point I've most likely found 95+% of the rejects.

For pistol bullets they go straight to lubing and I will look at everyone before it goes into the sizer or into the tube for the Star. Rifle bullets are weight sorted and then lubed so there are two more inspections. The weight sorting picks up any voids in the bullets that you can't see.

Even w/ all those inspections one gets by every now and then. And just typing that makes me think off all the time involved. I may switch to all jacketed so as not to waste so much time.

[blikseme300]

The poll allowed only one choice and I selected Before they are lubed. This is the point at which I really have a good look at each casting and cull. At every point before this I do a cursory inspection and cull what I notice.

Culling while casting can be done but must not interfere with casting cadence or tempo. I'm putting this here as this is one of the main reasons new casters have trouble when getting started.

[DHDeal]

Like many others have stated: As I cast I look at the base and if it isn't filled out and smooth, it gets dropped into my sprue pan. Again while I'm sorting I might find a few that get culled then.

I don't give any consideration for "blasting ammo" because I never load any. In rifles and handguns I only load the best that I can so my cast bullets need to he as perfect as i can make them. OCD or particular I suppose I am.

[Joby]

For me. Most culling happens while casting. Starting when sprue plate exposes the bases. Then when molds open can see half of the boolits still nicely organized before water drop or the towel treatment. This pause also slows the cadence to help control mold temp. Then they also get some varying scrutiny depending upon there usage for target pistol or higher velocity rifle fodder.

[Dave C.]

I do the same as JonB.

[Larry Gibson]

As usual this poll is too "one over the world" for me.

I use one or more or all of the first 5 methods, depending on the type of cast bullet and what it is to be used for. For example; with my precise target bullets I use all five. For plinking/informal use pistol bullets I use the first and the forth methods.

Since it wouldn't let me vote that way I didn't vote.

This is an excellent example why such polls, particularly political polls, that are to general with too many possible answers are meaningless.

[JSnover]

I'm with Larry (though I did vote).
I cull during and after, with another inspection before lubing. My rifle boolits are weighed before loading.

[Lagamor]

I only cast pistol boolit. I just go thru them before I PC.
Even still I have to be pickier with a higher pressure round like 9mm Lugar, on the other hand, the 9mm Makarov wouldn't care if I loaded rocks.:shock:

[JBinMN]

Thanks for all of the replies/( and votes if ya voted!)
Very interesting & informative for the most part!
:)

I was trying to be brief in my OP, so as not to carry on too much & try to keep things simple. Some folks like it that way & others seem to prefer more detail. The short version of this post ends here, the more detailed is below the dotted line & you can choose to continue reading or just skip on.
;)

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As I said, I do most of my culling/sorting after casting & before I store or lube. I do not usually do it "when" casting , as I am wearing thick leather gloves & it slows my "cadence" if I try to separate as I go. Sure, if I have the chance I will cull them out if they are on the edge of the pile when air cooling, but I am not going to dig thru a pile of boolits wearing gloves, or if water dropped, go thru them when wet. Of course I would dump the first castings as the mold heated up to where I want it, but I do not even consider those clumps of metal with crappy bases to even be worth keeping/mentioning, let alone call them boolits. I consider them no different than the cut off sprues. Any bad bases or wrinkles, etc., after the rhythm or cadence is going, go into the pile of boolits I have cast & I sort afterwards before I store or move to the next step.

Any that get missed before storage if that is where they are going, are found before lubing & sizing, (as well as seating if they somehow get damaged if I am tumble lubing), as they may have been missed or damaged when storing, but overall, most of the inspection is before they get stored since it is one step that I spend the time on so I do not have to do a lot of inspection & culling during other steps in making cartridges. Just the occasional one that was missed or damaged.

I haven't seen any reason to waste time/materials lubing defects before sizing, and since I use single stage presses or a turret one load at a time, in batches of a specific number, I do not have to worry about large lots of boolits being loaded that by chance have a defect of some sort. I load in small lots of 25-50 for testing, 50-100 at a time for plinking/target shooting for fun. I am not a "competition shooter" so other than testing loads, I do not have the need for getting too "picky" about the cast boolits I am using for plinking once I have sorted them earlier. The ones for testing/accuracy & such, are inspected more closely of course. [ < Not sure if I am explaining this well enough... :???: ]

Of course, the boolits get inspected "as I go", but the main inspection is as I said, at one dedicated time before storing or lubing a small batch to be loaded & shot so I am not doing what I consider wasting time with the other steps & end up with a lot amount of a specified number & not have to go back & make up for any I missed inspecting before. By the time they are seated, if they( or the rest of the components) are not damaged for some usually rare reason in the cartridge loading process, they are going to get shot & I know that they are not going to be a reason for blame when I get a flyer. I can blame myself for that usually, no need to blame the boolit/bullet if I know they are loaded "up to my expectations"from the time they leave the press/bench to the time I shoot them.

Long ramble, but I was trying to be more specific, since some folks may need such detail. I left some out since I already made this a longer post than I expected to do.


BTW... For those who might be interested... The poll was an effort made to try to share info in a simple form. Not perfect, but at least an attempt to share information. I am not a professional at polls, so ya get an amatuer attempt at making one, but some folks like them none the less. It was done only to try to help folks out, not as an official and "end all" of info.

I might add that I can accept criticism for trying out using a poll, and fall short of others expectations, but a little "constructive criticism" goes a lot further than just criticism that comes across as a complaint. If ya have a better example of how to do it, please hold forth & explain just how it is done. I would love to learn more if ya have the time to instruct on just how to make a "Good" poll with all the right choices.

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Thanks again for the replies/votes!
:)

[sigep1764]

I cull as Im lubing through a Star lubrisizer. The culls are seen as they set base up in the Star die and I pull them out of the lubed boolit pile after they go through the star. I use these lubed rejects for fluxing the casting pot when I dump in a new ingot so the lube is not wasted.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

I cull as I'm casting. Rejects go right back into the pot. But I usually miss a few. Those get picked out during sizing.

[Walter Laich]

Since I tumble 'lube' with PC and do it in batches I don't look at each one.

sometimes I catch them as I size them (after PC)

some I catch as I put them on top of the cartridge

[pjames32]

I voted for "before I size", but there are some in between steps. A visual when they are cooled gets most of them, a few more when I size/lube and I look them over when loading. If I'm plinking I'm not too picky as long as the base is good.

[GhostHawk]

Depends on the purpose, pistol I am not as fussy. I do tend to watch for poor fill on bases and send them straight back to the pot.

If I am water dropping for rifle those will get looked at very carefully before getting lubed, and again before loading.

Only rarely do I sort out wrinkles or such minor defects. Incomplete fill of base yes, those get recycled. If I have major wrinkles I'll probably dump all 6 cavity's back into the pot and warm the mold more and try again.

Minor wrinkles don't bother me for most of my shooting.
I just never could see a clear cut difference between them and perfect bullets.

If I still hunted I would probably sort out the best looking 20 for loading for hunting. You'd want nice ones for that.

Punching paper or ringing steel IMO it is just not that important. I don't shoot long range. And I don't shoot much high speed precision anything. YMMV

[dale2242]

I cull the obviously defective boolits I see while casting.
The rest I cull by inspecting under a magnifying light.
My rifle boolits will also be culled by weight.
All culling is done before storing or lubing...dale

[FISH4BUGS]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.
I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

I didn't vote - not enough choices. However, I think it makes sense to cull at every step. When casting, when putting them into coffee cans, when sizing/lubing, when putting them into storage in coffee cans, and certainly when loading. The more inspection you do the better the end product.
We had a 5 day power outage here after the Halloween storm, and I did a monumental casting session or two during that time. I cast, sized and lubed something like 4000 H&G #51's, half plain base and half gas check.
Not many rejects during that run. But there were a few.

[Wayne Smith]

I started trying to cull as I cast - but the boolits were too hot and too small and my welding gloves too clumsy. Now I cull as I lube - I can take a good look at them at that point and not worry about heat and picking out just that one from the pile.

[waksupi]

I inspect each bullet every time I handle it. If they aren't perfect, back to the pot they go.

[fecmech]

I cull at each stage of the process. Anything I see while casting, sizing, or loading gets culled. Bases being most important to me are critically looked at when I cut the spru. No bad bases get to the next stage or any other flaws I see while casting.

[Bent Ramrod]

I didn’t vote either.

Match castings and those for load development and “annoying the animals” off the bench on the Silhouette range get weighed into groups and inspected for flaws after I’ve cast a pile of them. If I see flaws when I open the mould, of course they go back into the pot, but once things seem to be running well, I don’t look at each casting that closely.

After culling, the good ones are stored by weight for lubrication or patching later. The culls go back into the cans marked for the appropriate alloy.

Plinking and offhand practice castings, and pistol boolits, are culled for flaws while casting and again when sizing/lubing, but not weighed. If a slightly bad one is noticed only after lube and gas check, usually it gets fired anyway.

It’s basically the economics of time and effort. If you’re sweating out your match loads or want a repeatedly accurate powder/boolit combination for your load book, it’s a waste of your other efforts to utilize a flawed casting. If you know you’re doing good just hitting a tin can at 100yd with your reference load, maybe your efforts are better spent at the range, practicing, than at the loading bench with a magnifying glass, checking boolits for lines and wrinkles.

[quilbilly]

I sort pistol boolits by appearance but rifle boolits I sort by appearance and weight. I have been amazed at the variations of rifle boolit weights coming from the same mold with the same alloy with good appearance. I allow a little less than 1% variation either side.

[dverna]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

Exactly.

Rifle bullets are different but they should be.

[MT Gianni]

I weight sort 6 mm and under, eye sort the rest at casting, lubing and occasionally one slips by to the loading stage. If it is just plinking stuff I don't mind flaws above the bands where they may have bumped another bullet being dropped. Anything with an imperfect base or bottom band goes back.

[10gaOkie]

After a first time session with a new bullet. I find about a 1.4gr variation in weight from high to low. Out of 100 bullets, I normally find 3 to 4 bullets outside this range and cull them. I make note of this weight range and used that same info on each casting session. On each session I weigh and seperate into a low half and a high half. Bag them up for use later. This gives me weighed bullets for use that are within .7gr variation. /Chris

[Echo]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

Plus One - my procedure exactly...

[OS OK]

After the first cast or two the mould is at temp, casts are wrinkle free and now that I use the PID for temp control, I have no need to worry about more than a grain of weight variance, I keep the sawdust out of the casting pot and have no worries about inclusions...so...all I worry about is fully filled out bases and clean sprue cuts...since I dump them into a cotton towel I can pull any rounded bases or ones with holes from inadequate sprue topping...

that's about it.

[ewlyon]

Once my mold is up to temp I just pour and drop without inspecting any, although if I am using a mold that takes a while to cool down then I will scrounge in the pile for an obvious flaws and toss them right back in the pot.
After they are cast I no longer do any real inspection, but I keep a jar for rejects by my storage/lube/size area and another under my reloading bench. Between powdercoating, sizing, and loading I seem to find pretty much all the bullets that aren't up to snuff even if I am being nitpicky about em.

[robg]

If the bases are square and true and no obvious flaws I'm good to go .wrinkled ,flawed boolits go back in the pot along with the sprues .check again as I size and gas check. The base is the crucial bit.

[David2011]

The first cull for me is when the sprue plate is opened. Any base that is not filled out gets flicked out before I dump the rest. After that I cull again after they cool but will pull an obviously bad boolit if I see flaws as it rolls around in the cooling area. I keep an eye out for more flaws every time they're handled. I also consider what the boolit will be used for before rejecting very minor flaws. If I know it will be used for plinking I will tolerate a hairline mark as it won't affect the balance of the boolit much for that practice. If it's for a gun I use for competition I try to find all flaws and recycle them. As they're handled to powder coat or lube I watch again for flaws. PC seems to hide hairline flaws so I give them a good look before dropping into the PC tub. They get another glance as they're loaded and if I see a flaw on a loaded round it gets rejected as well. Fortunately those are very rare.

I don't think I pick up too many individual boolits and roll them through my fingers to inspect unless I thought I saw a flaw but I try to be vigilant for bad boolits throughout the process.

[jonp]

After I cast while still hot. If they are bad I throw them back in

[RogerDat]

Yes, I do cull at those times. :-)

I never ignore a bad base or wrinkle I see because I never know if I will catch it at a later time so I toss it right then or shove to reject pile even if casting. Some I cull when placing gas checks and running through the sizer. Tumble lube without gas checks I do when I size, and some get caught when I go to PC them if they are getting coated. Then when loading I'm still watching. I have a mini muffin tin at the bench that is about 1/2 full of late breaking rejects.

In short if I'm looking at the bullet I'm more than willing to reject it if something about it I don't like.

[tazman]

I watch all the time during every process for bad boolits. Fortunately, I get very few. Probably less than 1%.
I am picky about how warm things are before I start. I almost always have lightly frosted boolits.

[Uncle Dave]

As a new caster I focus on cadence so all go into the bucket. I first visually inspect prior to Hi Tek coating for gross imperfections. Then I reinspect during handling during sizing and then once more while handeling during seating. Hi Tek does cover many of my poor but improving habits. I shoot pistol for fun so I’m not overly picked and have descent results. More interested in volume than precision right now but finding a balance. I certainly would tighten my standardsfor accuracy required loads.

[fredj338]

Even plinking, a bad bullet is a bad bullet. For me culling is just pulling out obvious defects like a hole in the base or driving band that isn't formed.

[AKholicBubba]

I also keep an eye on good from bad while casting, after casting, before storage and during lubing/coating. I'm not really as picky cause they are just for plinking for the most part

[toallmy]

I would say I cull any time I see something I don't like . I start culling at the pot when cutting the sprue , if I see a base not filled out nice and flat all the way around back in the pot it goes . I drop my cast boolits in two separate places when casting on top of the bench beside the pot I have a pan , that I use when I first get started casting or when something seams off with the fill I drop the boollits in it to keep a eye on them - then there is a larger container under the bench that I can comfortably drop cast boolits in while I'm casting after I get everything going right . The top pan gets most of the bad ones out , sometimes I just dump the top pan back in the pot . When I lube size them I keep a eye on them as well , by the way preheating the mold takes care of a lot of casting problems , and I would like to thank you guys for telling me that over and over until I gave up and tried it , I'm hard headed .

[barrabruce]

After I get good bullets dropping out of my mould I'll keep them.
Any rounded bases or defect get put back in the pot.
After I'm done I'll do a quick once over to get the ones I missed while up to speed and in the window of godlyness.
By the time I'm done casting I'm done with it so I'll pick out any obvious ones but tend to get to it properly once I'm in the mood for lubing or sizing or such.
So I put when taken out of storage.
Like most I cull as I see them or after I have mistreated them somehow. like dropping them on the floor.
Ha

[carbine86]

I pc and dont inspect until after coated as I am sizing the bullets.

[Walks]

I cull bases as I open the sprue plate. I cull again after the session is finished, but before tubing or sizing. I cast from old single cavity rifle molds and separate the perfect one's by weight. Handgun bullets I'm less picky about. I can no longer shoot well enough to weigh/separate handgun bullets for accuracy, so all I care about is clean, sharp bearing surfaces. If they'll hit a 6" plate at 50ft, that's good enough for me.

[pls1911]

Obvious bloopers are sorted as casting progresses.

Others sorted after heat treating, for those batches I heat treat.

Before gas check and lube, as gas check consistency is not a worry due to today's quality, and lube is uniform.

I've checked weights before and after checking and lubing, and have seen retained consistency, the difference being the weight of the lube and the check.

[Down South]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

Same here. By the time my booits make it to the loader, the rejects are pretty much gone. I don't have many rejects though. I normally reject the first several casts to get the mould up to temp, very few rejects after that.

[Shiloh]

The obvious ones while casting.
Otherwise when they dry after taking them out of the bucket of water they get dropped in.
They get looked over again when sizing and lubing.

If it has a nose and a good base, they get loaded and fired. Rifle boolits get scrutinized more.
Minor imperfections don't seem to affect things to much. Most of my rifle shooting is surplus rifles.

Shiloh

[HangFireW8]

Like David2011, I cull throughout the process.

I know when my casting rhythm is thrown off I'll have a short pour, I'll dump it right into the sprue box. I'll pull obviously bad ones from the pile at the same time I add ingots, and put them in the pre-warming pot along with the next set of ingots. While sorting by weight, while checking/sizing/lubing, even before loading (but by that time almost all of the bad ones are gone).

[Budzilla 19]

Through the whole process. Casting, pulling out of water drop bucket, before PC, then before gas checking, if that’s needed. ESPECIALLY when casting for this .44 Mag. I bought. I try for absolutely perfect cast boolits for that round. These 310 grain RNFP GC boolits have to be as good as I can make them. Just my .02

[DirtyJack]

I cull when weighing. I sort the field and cull the out of range heavy/light bullets. Works well.

[Rcmaveric]

I inspect and cull as I cast. I got a wooden box that's toweled lined. With two small wooden boxes in the corners. I cut the sprue and it goes into the rejected bullet box. Once I get a good size pile. I inspect and sort. Rejects go in with the sprues which when full gets dumped back into the pot. other box gets good bullets. I keep going till the pot is empty and I have a giant pile of good bullets. I don't sort by weight. I just look for obvious flaws in bases and mold fill out, wrinkles.

[kevin c]

I am new to casting, but am casting in volume to feed my action pistol habit, which can consume a couple thousand rounds a month, and maybe more now that I have more time post retirement. Accuracy matters, but two inch groups at 25 yards is considered acceptable for the sport, as most targets are generous in size and closer.

I would like to cast the best bullets I can, but feel that the volume I need to produce is a limiting factor, and that the need is not critical to be as perfect as possible. Also, I HiTek my boolits, and need to size after coating. The coating, once applied, makes close inspection for minor flaws pretty difficult.

The end result is that I am pretty much forced to inspect and cull as I cast, checking bases right after opening the sprue plate, and looking at the bullets just dropped before moving them into the good pile while the sprue cools on the next pour.

[9.3X62AL]

My castings are subject to cull-out at any point during the processing regimen. Obvious flawed bullets get recycled while the casting is under way, and the bullets get stored as-cast in bulk. I size and lube as the need arises for a given reloading project, and they get a critical look-see just before they hit the H&I die. To answer the poll......."All the above", excepting the last response.

[Shuz]

My castings are subject to cull-out at any point during the processing regimen. Obvious flawed bullets get recycled while the casting is under way, and the bullets get stored as-cast in bulk. I size and lube as the need arises for a given reloading project, and they get a critical look-see just before they hit the H&I die. To answer the poll......."All the above", excepting the last response.

+1 to Al's answer

[Texantothecore]

I weigh my boolits after they cool down. +- .5 grn.

[rintinglen]

MP molds and I cast a lot of Hollowpoints, and you need to keep up the speed doing those, so most of the time, I inspect after casting, both before and while I size.

On my rifle boolits, I inspect as I go, then again after have cast and again as I seat gas checks and size them

[Victor N TN]

I've worked in machine shops nearly my whole life. The last job I had in the shops was in inspection. For me the process of inspection starts when the sprue plate is knocked over and the bullets first land on the rag pile. From then ever after, every time I pick one up, I'm looking it over.

[Clovis]

I inspect my bullets after they have dropped from the mold and cooled to touch, any rejects go back into the pot. Next I inspect them during the lube/sizing, any rejects go into a bin for remelt. Next I weigh them, those with serious weight issues go into the bin for remelt. I insect them one last time during the reloading process, as always rejects are headed for the remelt bin.

[Grmps]

so, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but i cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as i cast. I observe for base fillout before i dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, i move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as i size it...if i see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as i load ammo, it's rare i find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

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[allsy]

I am still learning to cast great bullets like some I see here so I cull after casting is complete. I water quench, dry the bullets and then sort one by one. 1500 bullets takes awhile to sort through and sadly each time (three so far) I have almost filled my LEE pot back up with culls ready to melt back down. On the plus side each of the three sessions has seen a small reduction in culls so my process is improving. Either that or I am accepting a larger tolerance for what to cull...

[RogerDat]

The obvious ones are culled as I cast or during breaks in casting. The others when I size. If it is size and tumble lube that would be after first coat of lube. If PC then when sizing before PC. I use a NOE chamfer trim on the bases to clean flashing off for gas check bullets so before gas check which is also before lubing.

[toallmy]

Allsy you might want to try preheating your mold it will help a great deal with casting rejects .

[DerekP Houston]

I am still learning to cast great bullets like some I see here so I cull after casting is complete. I water quench, dry the bullets and then sort one by one. 1500 bullets takes awhile to sort through and sadly each time (three so far) I have almost filled my LEE pot back up with culls ready to melt back down. On the plus side each of the three sessions has seen a small reduction in culls so my process is improving. Either that or I am accepting a larger tolerance for what to cull...

Don't worry man you'll get the hang of it, I swear starting out I had more rejects than keepers! Pre-heating your mold on a hot plate will help a bunch, most problems I had were due to the mold being too cold.

[RogerDat]

I am still learning to cast great bullets like some I see here so I cull after casting is complete. I water quench, dry the bullets and then sort one by one. 1500 bullets takes awhile to sort through and sadly each time (three so far) I have almost filled my LEE pot back up with culls ready to melt back down. On the plus side each of the three sessions has seen a small reduction in culls so my process is improving. Either that or I am accepting a larger tolerance for what to cull... Do overs! Just one more reason this hobby rocks.

[6622729]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

You pretty much have my bases covered. I'm looking at the open mold. I'm looking at them piled up on a towel to dry after water dropping them. They only get stored if they've been checked. I don't let much go by in handgun boolits and I don't let any flaws by in 30 caliber rifle.

[Mal Paso]

I preheat molds and don't do any but the most obvious culling during casting. I have a "vintage" Luxo 5" magnifier/light on a suspension arm and all the boolits get rolled under it. Those with soft edges go back to the pot. Seems to keep weight variation about a grain in a 250g boolit.

[dwtim]

Well....three of the options apply. When I cast, the first 50 or so are usually undersized and underweight, so they go in the scrap pile. Casting has a rhythm--if I don't keep the beat, the bullets are inconsistent. Anything with unintentional rounded corners during casting just goes into the scrap, where they will be remelted on another day.

What I do later depends on the mold. I prefer one-holers for consistency, but most of mine are two-holers. I try to drop the bullets so they're separated by cavity. In other words, the first cavity drops into one pile, the other in the second. If that's not practical for whatever reason (usually room on the table), I later separate them before lubing. Separation is done by weight. It doesn't have to be scale weight--it could be comparative weight.

I don't lube defective boolits.

[Texas by God]

After each pot I round up the sprues and cull the bullets. Handgun boolits can get by with minor nose flaws but I want my rifle boolits looking good before lubing/sizing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Smk SHoe]

A lot depends on what the bullet use is going to be. Like most, pistol bullets for ringing steel at close range doesn't have to be perfect. Rifle for the most part, has to be as close to perfect or accuracy will suffer. I did load some UGLY 30 cal bullets for a .300 blackout this morning. Usually would remelt, but only second time the mold has been heated up and going to do a function test in the morning. Feeding, cycling and just a general " is this gonna work?" So two mags cast and gonna blast them in the morning

[jsizemore]

As usual this poll is too "one over the world" for me.

I use one or more or all of the first 5 methods, depending on the type of cast bullet and what it is to be used for. For example; with my precise target bullets I use all five. For plinking/informal use pistol bullets I use the first and the forth methods.

Since it wouldn't let me vote that way I didn't vote.

This is an excellent example why such polls, particularly political polls, that are to general with too many possible answers are meaningless.

Mine are subject to being culled at anytime in the process. I didn't vote since that wasn't an option.

[cwlongshot]

I was thinking about the "culling" ( sorting good from bad) I am about to do with the approx. 1500+ boolits I cast this afternoon & it occurred to me to ask here just when folks cull out the "unacceptable" boolits from the good ones.

I generally do it before I store them, or just before I lube them to use them if just a small amount. But, I was thinking that some folks might not care to sort at all if they are just plinking, and others might wait & do it as the are lubing, among other choices, while even might be others who do it as they cast. And so on...

So, I decided to make a Poll topic to see what other folks do, just out of curiousity & for the heck of it.

What is the time you choose to cull/sort your cast boolits, if ya do sort them at all?

ETA: I forgot to put "paper patch" in, when I put the question #3 in the poll about taking them out of storage before using them"

Excellent point Justsizemore!! I did think of that too.. but voted where I did anyhow as its "mostly" how I cull/sort.

I guess I am doing same as most by my choice of after casting but before storing/lubing.

YES, of coarse I do cull the first "few" from a given mold as I cast. But those never even tough the others... usually I will even cast a few "good ones" into cull/spure pile for good measure. Then I don't look too close at them and catch remaining when sorting.

CW

[762sultan]

Actually I could say both...when casting and before sizing and lubing. I pick out the grossly obvious as I am casting and later when I am done casting I perform a more intensive inspection to look at the base fill out and the lube groove dimensions. This inspection results in three classifications...rejects, plinkers, and the best to be used for hunting, sighting in, and pre hunting practice.